Friday, July 3, 2009

End of days

Things are heating up. Crew-x is less than 10 days away. End of trip paperwork is piling up, people freaking out over crew-x logistics, canceled flights, etc. Good times. There's also a few minor annoyances such as water condensate dripping from the A/C units, everywhere. Buckets in doorways, on couches and whatnot.

***

To top it off, the smell of our diesel fuel is permeating the ship. We're draining and venting one of the big fuel tanks and there is simply no way to avoid the smell. Personally, I'm happy with it. I happen to love the smell of gasoline and diesel. Yeah, I know it's weird, but when I wake up and smell that fuel, it's like manna from heaven.

****

We've got satellite TV onboard. I don't watch it, except when I pop in to the proper smoking lounge for a quick smokey treat (usually, I head out on the back deck). Last night I popped in there and actually flipped through the channels. We get one news channel. Al Jazeera. One movie channel. Sky? I think. One sports channel that shows cricket and football (that shit they play in Europe, not Oklahoma). And finally, the UK version of Discovery. Rather slim pickings for the boys.

*****

I'm glad I'm a reader and not a TV watcher.Note: Reading A short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It is wonderful; packed with science, history, betrayal, murder and a guy who thought he could turn his pee into gold and did, in fact, just that (sort of). Bill takes his readers on an extraordinary journey to discover and understand everything around us and in my opinion, succedes with style, grace and healthy dollup of irony. I would consider it a must-read for everyone, but especially Blondie, LL and Mr. Budd. (Dear Mr. Budd, I would bring it home for you but I took it in the sauna too many times and it fell apart.)

******

However, I do occasionally watch a movie on my laptop and I just watched the European version of The "Professional", called "LEON". Their version is like 30 minutes longer. In this one, Mathilda is shown accompanying Leon to meet Big Tony, and on several hits, learning how to kill (double-tap to the chest, not the face) as well as them falling in love. Not sure the extra time actually adds to the film, but it's still damn good.

*******

That's about it from here.........oh! Yesterday I saw a bunch of whales. Mother and calf, plus a few stray bulls. They looked quite happy and content (for whales)